Gymnast Simone Biles scratched from Olympics team final due to ‘medical issue’

Simone Biles, who is considered the greatest gymnast of all time, was scratched Tuesday from the Olympic gymnastics team final.

She withdrew due to a medical issue, Team USA gymnastics said in a statement. NBC announcers were told the scratching was due to “a mental issue” that Biles was having.

Biles competed in the vault event Tuesday and scored a 13.766, which is uncharacteristically low for Biles, who won the women’s vault at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She then walked off the competition floor, the Associated Press reported.

She returned a few minutes later and removed her grips for the uneven bars event, signaling the end of her day, according to USA Today. Teammate Jordan Chiles replaced Biles in the uneven bars.

Biles’ status for the individual event finals is unclear.

“She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions,” Team USA Gymnastics said.

Grace McCallum, Sunisa Lee and Chiles were the remaining gymnasts for Team USA after Biles was removed.

The Russian Olympic Committee went on to defeat Team USA by a score of 169.528 to 166.096. Team USA had won gold in the previous two Olympics.

Biles confirmed after Tuesday’s event she did not have an injury and scratched because it would be better for her team if she took a back seat, according to the Washington Post.

“We’re going to see about Thursday. We’re going to take it a day at a time,” she said. “I know tomorrow we have a little bit of a break for training, so that’ll be really nice to have a mental rest day.”

Biles won four gold medals and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 7:48 AM with the headline "Gymnast Simone Biles scratched from Olympics team final due to ‘medical issue’."